Orioles will place Mark Reynolds on disabled list

Veteran Bill Hall has been called up from Triple-A Norfolk and is in the lineup batting seventh and playing left field Saturday night.

Meanwhile, third baseman Mark Reynolds is heading to the disabled list for the first time in his career. He said he suffered an oblique injury making a throw during batting practice Friday. He said it’s not severe, but he doesn’t want to keep playing and let it get worse.

“I hurt my oblique yesterday, and it's not too bad, but it's one of those things where if I push it, it'll get worse, so we're going to get it better before anything else happens," said Reynolds, who has hit .191 with two homers and nine RBIs in 27 games. “I was actually throwing and I felt something in my side, so they did a bunch of tests and it's pretty sore and stiff. Hopefully, 15 days I'll be back out there.”

So Reynolds is now on the DL and Hall probably will be a bit of a fixture in the lineup for now. The 32-year-old veteran was signed last month to a minor league contract after he didn’t make the New York Yankees in the spring.

“I wasn’t getting itchy. I clearly understand I had a couple weeks off so I need to get into … baseball shape,” said Hall, who was hitting .222 with a .269 on-base percentage, two homers and seven RBIs in 15 games with Norfolk. “I was trying to go down there and [get] back in shape as fast as possible and do the things they were looking for me to do and have a chance to come up here. I accomplished some of those things.”

The Orioles will have to make another move to get Hall on the 40-man roster. It has not been announced, and there are several scenarios, including placing a player such as Brian Roberts on the 60-day disabled list.

One thing that’s interesting – but perhaps coincidental – is that Hall will be wearing No. 35 with the Orioles. That has been the uniform number of pitcher Brad Bergesen, who is with Norfolk and is considered one of the potential bubble players.

Regardless, it has been a whirlwind week for the Orioles, who have made at least 16 moves already – partially because of the 17-inning game Sunday with the Boston Red Sox.

“Isn't it amazing what a 17-inning game [on Sunday] does to the roster of a major league team?" Reynolds said. "But Dan [Duquette] signed a bunch of guys that can come in and fill holes, and that's what you need in baseball, especially for as long as the season is. You need depth. And we've been able to have that so far. We've had guys fill in nicely. Hopefully, they can keep doing it and we can get a bunch of guys healthy and go back out there and contribute.”